Wood veneer ribbons are employed in the manufacture of plywood and laminated veneer lumber (“LVL”). In conventional methods of manufacturing these products only larger recoverable portions of the entire veneer ribbon is clipped into nominal 4′×8′ sheets, dried as sheets, and used to form consolidated plywood and LVL products. In the conventional method of manufacturing parallel strand lumber (“PSL”), the dried sheets formed as described above, are clipped into narrow strips for use in manufacturing PSL. This results in high manufacturing costs due to the need for additional process equipment, additional associated operators, and a high amount of raw material waste is created.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,819, Re. 30,636, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,913, U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,131, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,765, long wood fibers are formed in lengths of from about 6 inches up to 4 feet. These long fibers are used in the manufacture of waferboard products and structural lumber products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,477 relates to artificial lumber board comprising elongated wood strips having medial body portions of different thicknesses which are aligned longitudinally in the board and compressed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,771 describes a method of enhancing multi-layer wood products by measuring the density of the veneer sheets used in the production and by grading the veneer sheets accordingly. To build up layers of the multi-layer wood, veneer sheets having a higher density are graded as surface sheets and reduced density sheets are employed as central sheets.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,452 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,704, engineered wood products are produced from logs. Logs are said to be radially anisotropic having wood of higher density and stiffness in their outer portion adjacent the bark than is found in the inner portion thereof. The logs are machined to segregate the denser, stiffer outer wood. A first component is formed from the less dense inner wood. Second components are formed from the stiffer outer wood. Second components are then adhesively bonded to at least one edge of the first component.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,219 discloses creating solid pieces of timber into splinter-like strands by passing the timber through a series of rolls revolving at uniform or variable controlled speeds. A spongy mass of loosely matted fiber strands is formed. The speed of bottom rolls 2a, 3a and 4a is restrained so that the speed of the wood mass or log is less than the peripheral speed of the upper rolls 2, 3 and 4.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,006 discloses a tree processing system including removing the limbs and bark from a log. A graduated roller mill having a sequence of pairs of compressor rollers that are spaced successively closer together receives the wood. A shredder shreds the fragments of wood into a loosely bonded mat. The loose mats are chopped into wood fibers suitable for mixing into a slurry for injection molding purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,945 discloses producing a coherent web from long slivers formed by breaking up raw wood material and then compacting same to give a web, which is subsequently glued and pressed together.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,238 discloses a composite wood product formed by splitting fibrous raw material. The roughly split material is then finely split and disrupted, and then dried. A single layer is formed by laterally arranging and adhering the finely split and disrupted wood pieces. The single layers are formed into a pile and subjected to heat and pressurize.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,467 discloses a pressure forming process for bamboo products. The bamboo is fed through a roller press having upper and lower pairs of rollers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,067, U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,345, U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,684, U.S. Pat. 4,711,689, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,591 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,691 are directed to a reconstituted wood product formed from webs of splintered natural wood. The splintered natural wood is broken down by crushing or like processes to produce the webs. The webs are consolidated by compression with an adhesive. A wood is passed through a pair of rollers to crush the log and form the web. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,684, to facilitate web formation, a roller is arranged to be reciprocated axially coupled to a piston subjected to hydraulic pressure in a cylinder. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,689, bonding agent and wax are applied to the web, which is then subjected to compression to consolidate the web and form the product. The compression of the web is effected once in a direction generally normal to the median plane of the web, and once in an edge to edge direction.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020064622 relates to a wood board used in flooring panels. Pieced slots are introduced parallel to the grain orientation in the outer face of the flooring panel to improve surface smoothness.